View full sizeStaten Island Advance/Irving SilversteinInvestigators stand near the scene of thefire that destroyed a building housing Bella Home Improvements and an upstairs apartment. It took 25 units and 106 firefighters to bring the 2-alarm blaze on Hylan Boulevard under control.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Three firefighters fell one story when the brittle second floor they were standing on collapsed onto the first as they fought a blaze in a Great Kills building early yesterday morning.

The two-alarm fire tore through Bella Home Improvements at 4028 Hylan Blvd. at 12:47 a.m. yesterday. Twenty-five units and 106 firefighters were needed to bring it under control at 2:13 a.m. The cause is under investigation.

The three men, along with eight other injured firefighters, were taken to Staten Island University Hospital in Ocean Breeze. An FDNY spokesman said all the injuries were considered minor, and no civilians were injured.

The fire charred the wooden beams of the old two-story frame building, which weakened the floor, fire officials said. The three firefighters were searching for small pockets of fire when the middle third of the second floor fell through to the first. Other firefighters were on the first floor at the time of the collapse, but none were below the collapsed section.

“We were lucky,” one chief said.

One resident of a second-floor apartment was initially believed to be inside the burning building, but it was later discovered he had escaped and gone to report the fire before the first trucks pulled up at the scene.

The owner of the business, Brad Bellocchio, could not be reached for comment yesterday.